Thread: is stropping really necessary???

just a poser,,,to save time the other morning i bypassed my usual stropping laps and shaved straight out of the shower with an unstropped razor...surprisingly i found to be slightly more comfortable on my heavy stubble,,,2 pass, with and against grain to finish, no razor burn with no more strokes than usual, proraso aftershave and moisturiser. that got me thinking as i am always thinking/experimenting with new ways to customise my routine...next morning i didnt strop again and same result, then this morning only started needing more strokes to clear my face of hair basically 3 shaves before i needed to strop again, i always thought as a rule you stropped before every shave but i came to realise maybe i was wasting time stropping everday when it was not really required??? anybody else found this or am i alone??

I strop before every shave, there is a difference IMO. Besides who wants to stop and strop in mid shave? As long as you can get away with it, enjoy?

Same. the extra 90 seconds it takes to strop is worth it to me.

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

I strop before every shave, there is a difference IMO. Besides who wants to stop and strop in mid shave? As long as you can get away with it, enjoy?

yeah i see what you mean about honing more regular if i bypass a regular strop, its not just about the feeling but also about razor maintenance! thanks for the reply

People have been stropping razors for a very long time. it's one of the few things concerning razors that is considered mandatory.

In the 1961 barber manual excerpt (SRP Wiki) the book instructs barbers to always strop before shaving a customer. TBH I've never ever tried shaving without first stropping. It works so I ain't gonna fix it.

Take a DE blade, shave with a Feather and the first shave can be almost too sharp. The second shave smoother. From there it goes downhill every shave. I used to get 3 or 4 shaves and I would change to a new blade.

Stropping the razor straightens out and smooths the edge and prolongs the life of the edge before it needs a touch up. If there were an efficient way to strop a DE that would probably improve them too. Just IME.

I'm in the same boat with you. I can strop every 3rd shave or so, without noticing any real difference.

To get the most comfortable shave I strop deeply, with pressure. That is the way I was taught to do it, so that is the way I've always gravitated to.

I don't notice much difference if I strop really lightly as is usually suggested.

The problem is that I have a pretty rough face and can handle pretty much anything. Shoot I can even shave with an electric now and then.

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

The problem is that I have a pretty rough face and can handle pretty much anything. Shoot I can even shave with an electric now and then.

OMG !!! That is flintskin Alan from now on

While we're experimenting around here, I'm going to see how long one of my blades shaves well without stropping. My ritual has been to strop every evening and shave the next morning, but I'm going to see what happens if I forego stropping and see how many shaves it takes to notice a difference.

I got my Dovo back from Lynn and he, along with a few other "seasoned" veterans suggested to me to shave without stropping a few time. Even some really great mentors. It might have been my stropping that could have dulled down an edge if I was not careful in doing it. By not stropping, I was giving the razor the opportunity to provide me a fresh honed shave. Of couse Lynn stropped and shaved with it himself, but, I think it takes a little while for the razor to dull down enough to need "freshning up" on the strop.

I used to shave with 2 blade disposables. I never threw one away until I had shaved with it for at leat a month, or many shaves. I could tell. I could feel the razor not cutting like it used to, perhaps dragging a bit and not getting the job done on the first pass. At the end of the shave I THEN pitched it and started fresh again with a new razor. If I can shave that many times with a factory mass-produced blade, I can surely shave a time or 3 with a straight before needing to give it 40 lashes. Besides, I really think about 10-15 good complete cycles are, or should be enough to bring the razor edge back to even again. You aren't shapening the razor on a strop, but merely re-aligning the fine edge to be even again.